have a lovely saturday evening.
and that’s an order!!
the husband sat in on this one and broke the rules…
he was supposed to look fierce.
he was supposed to look fierce.
he failed.
regardless, my demands remain.
and that’s an order!
oldies, but goodies
this is from 2007. that was awhile ago. i had a thing where i’d try to write funny things the kids said (kids say the darndest things you know) in a journal. the last entry was early 2009. you can see how good i am at this.
anyway, in keeping with the spirit of lindsey and her architecture abilities (beds and the like), she made a paper and tape remote. like a remote control for a TV. she was probably plain sick and tired of the fact that her dainty little girl fingers never came in contact with the real remote. she’s the only girl you know, and she’s the youngest. she has 3 older brothers to compete with. who do you think wins?
so… she uses her imagination.
it went like this.
showing me her paper remote, “it’s only for girl’s. it’s a girl’s remote. it recognizes clean girl hands.”
and later. “mom, come into my room and we’re going to watch a kids and mom oprah.”
and in the spirit of christmas… (it’s early, i know… but i was listening to nutcracker yesterday and now i’m feeling festive)
a ring that i have and love. maybe you’d love it too.
kids in the mornin’
look at this little tyke. she’s cute, right? i think so. that’s why i took the picture. also, because she looks ready to head into the alaskan wilderness (see any snow behind her? or is that green grass?) with multiple jackets/vests. she couldn’t move her head too well because of the multiple hoods. but, alas, she is warm and that is the true measure of how much you love your children. are they warm? are yours warm? mine are.
and now a funny.
this here man came struttin’ through the computer room yesterday morning showing off his new duds (i couldn’t resist old navy stuff-n-save).
(he looks embarrassed, but that’s just for show. we really are that vain.)
he really did. it was quite funny. i played this to help him get his groove on. it really just made me get my groove on. and then i remembered when i was little i had a tape of it – remember those? – good ol’ right said fred. one side was english and the other side was the spanish version. if only i could find that on grooveshark. anyway, i had to be in 4th grade or so. my poor mother– she must have been plain old tired if she didn’t stop her 4th grader from listening and singing to that song. the perils of having kids with such big age gaps (i’m blaming it on my older sisters. the tape was most certainly theirs).
‘i’m a model, you know what i mean, and i do my little turn on the catwalk’
have a lovely wednesday.
and if you struggle like i do, read this.
mandy in uganda
this here posting is dedicated to my dear friend amanda (i’ve given her the name mandy, for which she is eternally grateful…and i sing this to accompany the name). she is in uganda and has been for almost a year now. she’s serving with the peace corps. she will continue to be there for another year (or more?). she is missed by many… myself being one of them. to say she’s an incredible person doesn’t do her justice. amanda is awesome and, true to her nature, her life thus far in uganda has been nothing short of exciting – complete with bats in her home, close-call shootings (yes… shootings), and, the latest, safari ants.
a picture of us from freshman year.
a case of the mondays
this weekend went by too fast. when the weekend goes by too fast, i am simply not ready for monday to arrive. alas, it arrived whether or not i found myself ready. but, a little delight on this monday morning is this lovely website. with the lack of taste&smell, my culinary delights have also taken a backseat in the past week. sorry poor family. it’s gone something like this.
william: mom, what’s for dinner?
me: ugh… peanut butter and jelly?
tonight, however, i’m gonna step it up. show those people (ah! there it is, creeping up again!) that i do in fact still know how to turn on the stove, put food in a pot, and voila!, make food.
and, if you’re wondering, my taste&smell are slowly coming back to me. but not without its share of wondering whether i’d lost it forevahh.
so… maybe this? (taken from thekitchensink!)
oh yes, and i’d just like to share the story of the brownie-napper.
i made brownies (not just any brownies, all the glory and triple chocolatey goodness that is ghiradelli brownies). i stayed up late on a thursday night just to take them out of the oven for the boys after-school cross country party. next day, put them on a plate, covered in saran wrap, and wrote HUNT X-C PARTY. couldn’t miss it. unless……. you are a punk.
so, jordan put them in his locker (which is left unlocked… guess everyone’s is… but in a private christian school with 20 kids in each class, what’s the danjaah?). came time for the party, and the brownies. had. been. stolen. someone stole not one, but ALL of the brownies! i’ll tell you what… next time, those brownies are gonna be spiked with something unpleasant. das right.
and if this doesn’t help a case of the mondays, what will? turn it up loud.
“sail on silver girl, sail on by. your time has come to shine. all your dreams are on their way.
see how they shine.”
(my favorite part)
pumpkin carving-time
my first ever “fancy” pumpkin
complete with hand-cramp
william & lindsey’s pumpkin
complete with crooked smile
and pumpkin seeds
complete with olive oil and salt
halloweeeeeeen’s coming
i want this.
problem is i cannot smell nor taste… the two usually go hand-in-hand.
stinks for me (not literally as, i cannot smell).
i’ve had a bad cold all week that has robbed me of my sense of smell.
i found myself googling “losing sense of smell” since we are on day 3.
i think 3 days is too long.
i long for smell, any smell
(really… i’d even take those that come from le toilette).
i’m making brownies right now for the boys end-of-the-year X-C party.
can’t smell a thing.
what is the point in living?!
(obvious drama here, but really, have you thought of what no smell/taste would be like?!)
so, since my smell AND taste has been robbed of me, i may decorate instead.
here’s some ideas… most of which, i could never replicate.
who does that martha stewart think she is?
(ask me after halloween if i actually did any of them. if you’re lucky, i’ll have made jack-o-lanterns out of my now whole pumpkins).
lindsey in her spare time
some of us read… watch TV… surf the internet… lindsey makes sketches of the bed-design process. who knew? and it’s so simple! the backboard there, the legs there, the blanket on top and poof! your bed is made!
a proper title
you might’ve noticed (though, even suggesting what i’m about to suggest implies that you’re interested enough in my blog to have noticed… carefully check every facet of it… read it with a fine-toothed comb… are there any of you out there? anyone?) that my title keeps changing. not my title–i am still a woman, a mrs., a stepmom, friend, and daughter. but THE title. the hunt life, tales of me and the husband, and… the one that will be no longer… “and those other people we live with.”
those other people:
yes, that’s them. that’s “those people.” see, the thing is, my funny, funny husband sometimes refers to the kids this way. it’s very tongue and cheek, you see. for instance…
simultaneous conversation, sometimes. literally. all. at. once.
“mom, can you make me a sandwich?”
“dad, where’s the lunchmeat?”
“mom, jordan’s hitting me.”
barking dog.
“nathaniel, give me back the remote!”
“gracie is biting me!”
crying child.
“dad, can i have $20?”
then… in a brief moment of humor, steve turns to me and says:
“those people are at it again.”
so, that is where “those people” came from. but, i realized, that for those who don’t know me well, or even for those who do, the implications of the stepmom referring to them this way could be negative. you know how it goes, the evil stepmom routine, cinderella, etc. so, they are no longer “those people” (as far as a blog title goes) but, now you’ve got the backstory.
again, this is to suggest you even noticed or cared enough to wonder, why the change?
and heaven forbid you think i’ve got my head in the clouds, i do realize that blogging is, in and of itself, a narcissistic activity. i’m writing, publicly, assuming someone loves me and my husband and those people enough to entertain the thought of thinking about thinking about the click-and-read.
whew. heaven forbid.
love to you all on this bright monday morning.
fyi: i may not have bore “those people” but i do love them. would i be here if i didn’t?
a year without allie, or… allie’s first year in heaven?
if you know me, then you know that saying a sudden goodbye
to this eternally optimistic, happy-as-can-be, sweet, brown-eyed girl was one of the
hardest things ever.
the fact that i can say that makes me feel blessed.
if, at 23, losing my beloved dog was the hardest thing i’ve had to go through then,
i’ve had a fairly easy life. i guess.
anyhow, it’s been a year without allie, and it wasn’t all easy.
saying bye to her at the end of october, just before the grayness of a massachusetts winter
that can depress you in the best of circumstances, was not easy. not easy at all.
bringing her to the vet and entirely expecting to bring her home with a little bottle of medicine
only to leave without her was heart-wrenching.
i can’t sugarcoat it. saying bye to her was rough.
i still miss her. we still miss her.
but, despite it, i am going to share some of the things we loved best about our dear allie.
she brought in the paper. seriously. you got her all excited on saturday mornings exclaiming in high-pitched voices (the husband’s being particularly humorous), “paper! get the paper! are you gonna get the paper!” and then you opened the door, she ran to the mailbox, grabbed the paper in her mouth, ran back to the house and dropped it at your feet, so proud of herself. much cuddling and praise ensued.
once, she was out on a potty-break, and she came back with a paper in her mouth.
it was a weekday. we only got the paper on the weekends.
our sincerest apologies to whomever that was.
(praise still ensued.)
fetching, well, she lived for it.
she’d fetch until she dropped dead, we are most certain.
a frisbee, a tennis ball, a stick. didn’t matter. you threw it, she’d bring it back.
she played hide-and-go-seek. a quality that we, her doting parents, were quite sure meant that she was of the highest intellect. a dog! able to understand the rules of hide-and-go-seek! see! she is so smart! really, it was just sit, stay, we’d go hide, then we’d tell her to come and she’d search and search till she found us. it might not’ve been the most difficult for her to understand. nevertheless, she was smart.
really, her greatest joy was being where we were.
she’d follow us to the ends of the earth.
we’re so excited to see her again one day.
there is no love like the unconditional love of a dog.